After realizing that, he took Haiqing and Pinjun running for some time. He walked into the alley, which was almost all residential. An old dumpling shop billboard was hung high above the sheet metal roof. The random twine of the neighborhood neon light bulbs revealed an old sense of familiarity. The shop owner, who usually stood next to the food steamer while he watched over the fire, had not changed.

“Dad!” Shichen’s voice sounded relieved.

He rushed into the shop and the shop owner was quite relieved to see someone come. Haiqing came in a bit later with Pinjun. The shop owner told Haiqing that Grandpa came in the afternoon. He ordered a basket of steamed dumplings then he sat there and ate them. There were not many guests in the afternoon, so the shop owner was watching a variety show while looking after his store. After Grandpa finished eating, he said that he did not have money and he could not remember his home phone number. The shop owner roughly guessed that he might be an old man who had come out to eat but had forgotten his way home. It was very common, so he reassured him not to worry. He even poured a glass of water and let him sit to slowly think.

Haiqing was very grateful to the shop owner for letting Grandpa stay there and not letting him wander around. Otherwise, they would not know where Grandpa would wander about to, since he did not remember anything. When they turned around to look, Grandpa was not very warm toward Shichen, who was rebuking to express his concern. Instead, Grandpa had a happy expression when he saw Haiqing and Pinjun who was on his side. He even reached out and stroked him.

Although Pinjun was not Grandpa’s grandson, Pinjun was greeted and Grandpa immediately ran to him. He asked him with care whether he was tired or not, whether he wanted to buy a cold drink or not. Grandpa shook his head with a smile and grabbed Pinjun’s arm to make him greet the shop owner.

“Boss, this is my son. Give him a basket of steamed dumplings.”

Shichen was struck by this sentence.

Of course, he remembered that he used to eat a whole basket of steamed dumplings when he came here before, and he sometimes said that he has not eaten enough yet. His father’s — who has forgotten everything — first sentence after seeing a family member was to remember that his son ate steamed dumplings… Shichen suddenly felt a sour nose and a blurred vision, even though his father still misidentified the person.

Haiqing walked to his back and patted him on the shoulder. After Shichen sat down, he also sat on a chair next to him.

“Boss, we’ll have dumplings too.” Shichen helplessly ordered some food from the shop owner. The sound of him sniffling was mixed with Grandpa’s words as he pulled Pinjun.

“I just met someone with a silver cufflink,” Grandpa said.

“Pure silver? It must be beautiful.” Pinjun’s response overflowed.

“When I was young, I also had one…” Grandpa began gabbling forty to the dozen[1]. The shop owner smiled and said, “He just said the same thing to the guest.” Then he turned to make the steamed dumplings and he did not join this family’s daily life’s chat again.

[1] Rambling on and on; talking nonstop.

Compared to the warm and harmonious scene of Haiqing’s family reunion in the old and shabby small dumpling shop, Yan Fei’s dining table seemed quiet and lonely.

There were two plates of steamed dumplings on the table. Even if it was just snacks that they bought, they would still need to eat it on a beautiful plate. This was Jimmy’s insistence on the aesthetics of life. Just like his taste in the interior design of the house, even the height of the ankle that nobody would notice was decorated with exquisite wallpaper.

Yan Fei slid on his phone while eating steamed dumplings. At first, he was just passing by the dumpling shop by chance. He thought that it had been a long time since he had eaten steamed dumplings, so he bought two baskets of steamed dumplings. Unexpectedly, the taste was pretty good, and his distraught mood was slightly relieved. He called out for Jimmy with a very cheerful voice, “Come, let’s eat dumplings!”

Jimmy did not answer him. He went ahead to the refrigerator and poured a cup of fresh milk from the glass jar, then he pretended to drink it.

“You’re not going on the blind date today?” Jimmy asked while wiping his mouth.

“I’ve been there!” Yan Fei put his chopsticks from the plate next to him on the edge of the other dumplings plate. The inviting flavor was very strong.

“So fast?” Jimmy said with a sarcastic tone. He himself understood, “Don’t you need to have dinner and watch a movie?” If he could see that she looked pleasing, then he could book a hotel room.

“No need!” Yan Fei’s patience had not been polished, even though he was keenly aware of Jimmy’s poor tone. Every time he agreed to go on a blind date, or after Jimmy was in contact with Yan Fei’s mother — no matter how short it was — Jimmy always spoke with short, thin, and sharp spikes.

Jimmy sneered. All of a sudden, Yan Fei realized that his back could not help but tremble.

“The other side’s condition must be very bad. You can’t even have dinner with her.”

As expected.

Yan Fei lightly sighed. As long as they talked about ‘blind date,’ ‘mother’ or ‘coming out of the closet,’ their dialogue would inevitably advance into a helplessly frigid, ironic and scorching satire. Why was it that Jimmy could not understand that he was just trying to make his only parent feel better and have peace of mind?

“I just went to give my mother an explanation that I don’t have any plans to develop a relationship.” Yan Fei lowered his voice, and finally, his desire to pretend to be happy completely vanished.

“Then, what are you going to give me to justify yourself?” Jimmy walked to the table and gently fiddled the edge of the plate with his finger so that the chopsticks fell on the table with a very weak sound, the sound of which was absorbed by the tablecloth. “A plate of steamed dumplings?”

He could even make a fuss about steamed dumplings? Yan Fei closed his eyes and suddenly felt he was a bit silly, stupid, and ridiculous.

“So, are you going to eat them or not? If you won’t eat them, then I’ll eat them.” He felt that he was wronged and snatched the plate. Then, he grabbed the steamed dumplings and ate them while he pretended not to hear Jimmy’s cold groaning while on the scene.

“I’m going to the gym in a short while.” Jimmy said he had an appointment with Jacky. He wanted to introduce someone to him.

It was Jacky again.

“You’ve been dealing with Jacky so often lately. Do you still need to introduce him to someone?”

“Are you jealous now?” Jimmy looked into his eyes. The formerly sharp and harsh eyes suddenly became a lot more complicated.

“I won’t touch your subordinates. Even if I’m licentious, I’ll still pick the dish that I’m going to eat. Not everyone would do!”

Yan Fei did not understand why Jimmy suddenly uttered these words.

Yan Fei understood that Jimmy sometimes would be a little ambiguous with others. Based on his standpoint of enjoying life, Yan Fei did not go against it; thus, Jimmy obtained some guy for relief. As long as Jimmy could really understand the difference between the real partner and the target for relief, he has always been asking no questions.

Could it be… this could not be true, right? Yan Fei looked deep into Jimmy’s eyes, trying to find the flow of emotions that he could not hide in the colorful neon lights of the night market. However, no matter how long or how deep he looked, he did not find anything except his own scabbing wounds.

“Let’s break up.”

“I don’t want to!”

Jimmy flung the door open and left.

Yan Fei covered his mouth and rushed into the bathroom. He vomited all of the steamed dumplings that he kept on eating in spite of his difficulties. He was in a very difficult situation.